Duel of Time
by Mosobot64
Summary: For Dark Cloud 2, alternate universe. Maximillian, from Colonial Times, after facing a horrible monster he had forseen, must embark on a quest to eliminate the threat from millions of years into the future...Okay, it's also in non-scrip form, so RR! XD
1. The First Encounter

Duel of Time  
-By Mosobot64  
  
Yay! New style! Hope you like it!  
  
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A Time Portal had opened. One of the Guardians of the Enemy had access to her Time.  
  
She had to hurry, or the innocent would die by the Guardian's rampage. She kept running, as the Portal closed.  
  
And so it stood. She could already tell, just by looking at it, that it came from 1,000 years into the future.  
  
It was not moving. Not yet. But once it had its' master's orders, it would destroy everything in sight until they were fulfilled.  
  
Its' large, smooth, metallic head had six eye shaped slits cut into it. Its' neck was riddled with machinery. Huge, sphere shaped plates covered its' shoulders. Its' metallic chest was bristling with missiles. And the arms were covered with pipes, running down to the "wrists" of the behemoth, where mechanical hands with large, curved, knife like claws protruded from, like a nightmare a mad scientist would create. The monstrosity was taller than a tree.  
  
Its' six eyes flashed red, it had its' orders. Another Time Portal opened, circular, and glowing a bright white. The guardian walked into it and vanished. Without question, She ran and jumped into the Portal, moments before it closed.  
  
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==Chapter 1-The First Encounter==  
  
Not far from Sindain Forest was a small, quiet city called Palm Brinks.  
  
The mayor of the city was a rather naive but kind man named Mayor Need. And the best friend of Mayor Need was an old repairman named Cedric. Cedric had an apprentice, a young boy.  
  
And this boy's name was Maximillian.  
  
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On a rather ordinary day, young Max left his home, a mansion his father owned due to having a fortune, to help Cedric with the daily routine of repairing clocks and vacuum cleaners and whatever other machinery people would send in to be fixed.  
  
"Be very careful, son!" His father shouted from the mansion door. "There's supposed to be a thunderstorm soon!"  
  
"I will, father!" Max shouted, his emerald green eyes bright with enthusiasm. "Have a good day!"  
  
Max whirled around, his golden blonde hair a blur. When the golden necklace with the large red jewel his father had given him bounced on his chest, Max remembered he had forgotten to tell his father something.  
  
"Thank you for the pendant, father!" Max shouted, turning to face his father once again.  
  
"Don't mention it!" His father replied. "Goodbye!"  
  
Max ran enthusiastically, his pendant bouncing on his chest. Small drips of rain sometimes fell on him, but Max never noticed. He had skipped breakfast this morning, but he didn't care. Max loved helping Cedric out whenever he got the chance, not just because he liked machines and discovering how they worked, but also because he loved the feeling you get when you've been a help to someone and you know it.  
  
And Max knew that he did Cedric a big favour each time he came, and he loved knowing that.  
  
The rain fell more heavily now. The drops were larger, and struck Max more often. It was also getting rather cool out. Max was walking now, as the rain fell ever more relentlessly.  
  
"HEY, MAX!!" A female voice shouted in his ear. Max instinctively spun around to see who it was.  
  
"Carla, don't do that!" Max cried out, still shocked. When he had a chance to recover, he smiled softly. "What brings you out in this weather, Carla?" Max asked innocently.  
  
"Same as you, I guess." Carla replied, shrugging. She wore a long blue dress, and a light blue bonnet on her head. She had black hair down to her back, and soft brown eyes that looked lovingly on the world. Carla held a white umbrella over her head.  
  
"Oh, Max! What a pretty necklace you have!" Carla said in a fascinated voice, pointing at Max's jewel.  
  
"Oh, this?" Max replied, holding up his necklace. "My father gave it to me this morning."  
  
"You're so lucky! My father's never given me anything like that." Carla said, still interested.  
  
"Uhh..thanks..." Max replied, unsure of what to say.  
  
"So, where are you going, Max?" Carla asked Max sweetly.  
  
"Oh....Cedric's repairshop..." Max trailed off, almost completely unaware of what she just said.  
  
"You grease monkey." Carla said playfully, stealing Max's hat before he swiped it back. "I'll take you there."  
  
And so they walked under Carla's umbrella in the ever-heavy rain. Carla looked very beautiful in the dim light.  
  
Max felt compelled to hold her hand. It just looked so cold and lonely. He took her hand.  
  
And what he saw was horrifying.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Carla's hand was much colder than Max thought. And he did not feel her heart softly beating. He knew something was wrong.  
  
Max looked upon Carla's face. It was frozen in terror. She was dead, leaning on a pile of rubble, and a fatal wound in her stomach. Why was she dead?  
  
Max looked around him. There were decimated piles of rubble where building used to be. He heard the scattered screams of panicking people, and he smelt the smoke, and the ashes.  
  
Max saw the bloodied corpses of people he once knew, people he once loved...  
  
And rising above the destruction and the chaos was the black silhouette of a monster....  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Max? Max, are you alright?"  
  
He was aware that everything was fine, and Carla was alive and well, and the Palm Brinks still stood.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing." Max replied to what he realized was Carla's concern.  
  
"I'm not to sure...." Carla replied in an unsure voice.  
  
"Look, Carla, I'm fine!" Max snapped back. He didn't want anyone to think he was crazy.  
  
"Max, I meant no offense, it's just that you let go of my hand all of a sudden, and then you went all pale and spaced out."  
  
"It's just that your hand was-" But he never got a chance to finish his sentence.  
  
The wind began to howl, and lightning streaked the sky as thunder boomed. A huge disk of glowing white light appeared from nowhere, right in front of them.  
  
"Max! What is it?" Carla yelled to him fearfully over the screaming wind.  
  
Max couldn't reply. He had that same question. He was afraid, for he could not explain this happening.  
  
Two massive, metallic claws sprung from the disk. They looked as though they could chop a man's head right off his shoulders.  
  
Two large, clawed feet emerged. The cobblestones crumbled under their weight. A square torso appeared, full of what looked to be missiles. Finally, a round oval, like a head, appeared from atop the torso, with six slits cut into it, glowing red like sinister eyes. It was taller than the building it stood next to.  
  
"Carla, RUN!" Max cried out in fear. He stumbled backward onto the cobblestones. The monster was shaped just like the one he had seen in his vision, everyone was going to die....  
  
Carla ran. It was all she could do. Run and hope Max survived.  
  
~You life is mine, Time Magus....~ A hollow, metallic voice boomed from inside the monstrosity. Max didn't understand. Time Magus?  
  
The portal as he understood it closed, the monstrosity raised its' claws, and Max buried his face in his hands and cried, ready to die, ready to embrace his last, horrible memories....  
  
His thoughts were interrupted when Max heard the sound of rusted hinges creaking, and the clash of steel on stone as something collapsed. He took his hands from his face....  
  
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The monstrosity lay on the broken cobblestones, rusted. But how?  
  
Max then noticed a beautiful girl, with shining pink hair, and violet eyes, and a lavender shirt, wearing black pants and brown gloves. She had two armbands, one gold and one silver, and in the silver one was set a stone just like his, only blue. Where did she come from?  
  
"Time Magus, come with me," The girl said simply.  
  
Max followed the girl as she opened another portal somehow, and beckoned him through. Max stepped into the portal....  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
MUA HA HA!!!! A CLIFFHANGER!!!!  
  
-Max: Great...-_-  
  
Max, quit being sarcastic.  
  
-Max: You're just the same half-crazed author you always were..  
  
Shut up. (Stuffs a sock in his face)  
  
Please Read and Review!!! 


	2. The Enemy of Time

Duel of Time  
-By Mosobot64  
  
Second chapter, yay! Hope you like it!  
  
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==Chapter 2- The Enemy of Time ==  
  
"We must be in the future!" Max cried out in amazement.  
  
Building rose up to the sky, higher than the tallest building in Palm Brinks. They were all made of stone, but in Palm Brinks, most of them would only have been made from wood. There was no cobblestones in the road, just smooth, grey stone pavement.  
  
"This isn't the future, Max." The girl said. "This is Modern Times."  
  
"How do you know my name?" Max asked, startled. "Are you from the future?"  
  
"I've known you for a long time." The girl replied. "And as you know it, yes, I am from the future. But knowledgeable Time Magus know this Time as the Modern Age."  
  
"I'm not KNOWLEDGEABLE?!?" Max cried indignantly. "And what's a Time Magus?"  
  
"I'm not saying you're dumb, Max, all I'm saying is that you haven't yet learned what a Time Magus needs to know." The girl said, and then continued, "A Time Magus is someone who knows the true workings of Time, and who can travel to most Ages using their Atlamillas, the jewels you, me and other people have!"  
  
"My jewel is an Atlamilla?" Max asked rhetorically, holding up his pendant. "You can travel in Time with these?"  
  
"Yes, Max! Oh, I have so much to tell you, but first you must meet the other Time Magus!" Monica said excitedly, getting ready to sprint.  
  
"What is your name?" Max asked loudly, just as the girl was about to sprint.  
  
"If you must know, my name is Monica." She replied impatiently.  
  
"Well, you're very pretty, Monica." Max said, blushing.  
  
There was a long, awkward silence, during which Max and Monica looked deeply into each other's eyes. Monica soon broke this silence.  
  
"Max, we had best be going." She said simply, and began to walk away. Max followed her....  
  
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Monica had soon taken Max to a castle. Max couldn't believe it. It looked ancient. It was made entirely of stone blocks, and rose even higher than the other skyscrapers he had seen.  
  
"Come, Max. Here, you'll find the other Time Magus." Monica told Max casually, beginning to walk through the huge, wooden doors of the castle. Max paused to look at the castle once more, and then quickly followed.  
  
The floors were wooden and covered with red carpet. Monica turned several times, and each time she would wait impatiently for Max to catch up.  
  
She soon stopped at one of the many oak doors.  
  
"Here you are, Max. The first door to your destiny."  
  
Max opened the door, and walked inside, as Monica followed.....  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The room was small, and white. On one side of the room, a small fire burned inside a fireplace. There were five wooden chairs set up in a circle. There were three people taking up some of the chairs.  
  
One of them looked like a machine. Its' head had a golden framed Orange Atlamilla built into it, and its' eyes were cut into the head, with an eerie red glow peering out. Its' mouth was replaced by a semi-circular black screen, lighted slightly by a blue line running through the middle. It had machine guns on its' shoulders, and some sort of cannon replacing one of it's mechanical arms.  
  
++So, this is the Colonial Time Magus? ++ The machine droned, its' blue lit line pulsing. ++He looks like a mere boy. ++  
  
"Now see here-" Max began, but was interrupted when Monica covered his mouth.  
  
"He didn't get his Atlamilla until recently, Porrion." Monica said, uncovering Max's mouth.  
  
"Nice job with the insult. Very subtle." Max piped up, and continued. "I got my Atlamilla just this morning, from my father."  
  
"I'm with him." Monica shrugged.  
  
++Very well then. Next time I will keep that in mind before I make another one of my "subtle insults". ++ The robot said sarcastically. ++My name is Porrion. What is yours? ++  
  
"Maximillian." Max replied, smiling and holding out his hand. The robot took it.  
  
++Fine to meet you, Maximilian. ++ Porrion said, shaking Max's hand vigorously, leaving his fingers crushed.  
  
The two other people were rather small, with fairly large ears, and both looking almost the same, except one wore blue clothing, and the other wore red. Both wore Yellow Atlamillas around their necks.  
  
"So, when should we start?" The red clad person asked.  
  
"Honestly, Perry, you have to be more patient." The blue clad twin snapped at him.  
  
"Jerry, I was only asking a question, you don't have to be rude!"  
  
"Which signifies your impatience. Like back home in our cart, you would keep askin' 'Are we there yet?' every ten seconds. It broke my meditating!"  
  
"Uh, you guys, is there really any point in arguing?" Max asked them, just as their argument was beginning to get ugly.  
  
"Good point." The man in blue replied. "Name's Jerry. The guy in red is my irrational brother Perry."  
  
"IRRATIONAL!?! Now you're the one bein' rude!" Perry snapped indignatly. Max shook his head. Those two were hopeless....  
  
"All right, guys, let's get back on track." Monica said loudly, just in time to stop the hopeless twins from arguing again. Everyone paid close attention.  
  
"We have an enemy on our hands." Monica began. "He is trying to enter our time. But we don't know how, or what Age he's in, or what his motives are. But he's coming, and somehow, we have to stop him."  
  
"Who is he?" Max asked. "What is his name?"  
  
"We don't know, Max. He is so far into the future that we cannot go into his Time. No one can. So, he cannot reach us, not yet at the very least. But, he can send powerful monsters from different periods of Time called Guardians here to do his dirty work."  
  
"D-did he send a Guardian...t-to kill me?" Max asked fearfully.  
  
"Yes, Max, he did. We have chosen to call that Guardian Ragnarok."  
  
Max fell onto his hands and knees, and his body shook uncontrollably, as cold sweat poured down his face.  
  
"I....I...I thought I was going to die!" Max cried in fear. "Thank God you saved me, Monica, before it was too late...."  
  
"There is no God." Monica began simply but gravely. "And I wasn't responsible for saving you, either. You did that, but obviously you didn't know it. Ragnarok was already rusted and collapsed onto the ground by the time I even came to my senses."  
  
"I-it was me?" Max stammered, slowly getting up again. "I did that?"  
  
"You did, but not intentionally. But something told me right then that you would be able to do that at will soon. And so I brought you here.  
  
"Like I said before, we do not know the enemy's name is, but we have decided to call him Magus Zero." Monica finished.  
  
"So this Magus Zero....I have to stop him from getting into our Time, right?" Max asked uncertainly.  
  
"Yes, Max." Monica replied.  
  
"So, I know what I must do." Max said in a still uncertain voice. "But I don't know how to do it."  
  
++I can help you there, Maximillian. ++ Porrion said, walking to his side.  
  
"And I will help you to the end!" Monia piped in. "If I can protect you, I will, no matter what the cost!"  
  
++Jerry and Perry, you must stay here. We still need people to defend the flow of Time. ++ Porrion told the twins.  
  
"Aye, I understand. You go, we'll guard it." Jerry told Porrion.  
  
"Let's go!" Monica cried, leading Max and Porrion out of the castle and out of the city.  
  
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Hey, wow, it's the second chapter! Woot! Please review! 


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